Hanoi (VNA) ♊– The Vietnam National Petroleum Group will complete procedures to list on the stock market by the end of this year, the company said in a public statement.

In the remaining months of this year, the company, known as Petrolimex, will finish selling its ownership in the Petroleum Logistics Service and Investment JSC on the request of the Government Inspectorate. Petrolimex also plans to complete developing the restructuring plan for its gas station network and submit the plan to the Ministry of Industry and Trade (MoIT). Petrolimex had more than 2,350 gas stations at the end of November 2015. Suffering from lower global crude prices, Petrolimex earned a revenue of 88.06 trillion VND (3.98 billion USD) in the first nine months of the year, a decrease of 22 percent from last year’s number. The average nine-month price of US crude WTI fell nearly 20 percent to 41.31 USD a barrel from last year’s price of 51 USD a barrel. However, the company enjoyed higher pre-tax profit during the first three quarters of 2016, which was at 4.06 trillion VND – an increase of 160 percent from the same period of last year. That result also helped Petrolimex reach this year’s pre-tax profit target. Higher nine-month pre-tax profit came after Petrolimex did not suffer heavy forex rate loss since the State Bank of Vietnam on January 4 started using the daily reference mid-point rate for local currency trading between the Vietnamese dong and the US dollar. A daily exchange rate helps local companies avoid accumulated forex-rate loss, because they are able to monitor the changes of exchange rate in their balance sheets on a daily frequency and calculate their business plans more specifically for each period, Petrolimex said in its statement. The company also plans to import more gasoline to meet the domestic demand for fuel during the period of 2017 Tet (Lunar New Year) holiday at the end of January. The company said in a document sent to the MoIT that it will import 750,000m3 of gasoline in December (the month before Tet), an increase of 12 percent from last period’s number, 750,000m3 in January (the month of Tet holiday), an increase of 10 percent, and 700,000m3 in February (the month after Tet), an increase of 8 percent. Based on the analysis and forecast of local demand, Petrolimex has completed negotiations with overseas suppliers and Dung Quat Oil Refinery to make sure the supply is stable. Imported gasoline will be stored at seven sites, which are the provinces of Quang Ninh, Nghe An, Binh Dinh, Nha Trang, the cities of Da Nang and Can Tho, and HCM City. The company has asked its subsidiaries to co-operate with each other to assure the logistics and supply will meet the demand of local businesses and people during the Tet holiday, especially those located in the remote disadvantaged areas, schedule their selling activities and publicise their timetables.-VNA